Gun battle has ended at Kashmir army camp: Indian police

SRINAGAR: A gun battle with a group of militants who attacked an Indian army camp in the Indian portion of Kashmir that killed one Indian paramilitary soldier and wounded another has ended early Monday morning, police said.

A senior police official speaking on customary condition of anonymity said search operations were on at the base which was attacked late Sunday by an unspecified number of militants firing grenades and guns.

Police officer Syed Javeid Mujataba Gillani said earlier that it was not immediately known whether the militants tried to enter the camp in the garrison town of Baramulla, 50 kilometres (30 miles) northwest of Srinagar, the main city in Kashmir. The camp is the local headquarters of a counterinsurgency military unit.

The paramilitary soldiers hit by gunfire were also stationed at the camp, a police officer said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

Sunday’s attack came three days after the Indian army claimed had carried out a “surgical strike” in the region and destroyed “terrorist launching pads” used by the militants. However, Pakistan has number of times rejected the claim.